+Baba Hakeem

+Baba Hakeem

Doping, Plight of the athlete.

Posted by: Baba Hakeem in Lifestyle 16th July 2016 0 1,393 Views

Eldoret town is one of the worst hit towns by the doping allegations as many athletes and their managers have been embroiled in the accusation. Doping, defined as the act of administering drugs for performance enhancement is an act frowned upon by many. Be that as it may, it is also an act that athletes could take as a shortcut to escape the rigorous training process that comes with the job.

Unbeknownst to the public is that some athletes fall victim to doping unknowingly, they may ingest drugs with substances that have been banned. Eat food that may contain banned substances or blatantly get duped into ingesting the banned substances under the guise of multi vitamins.

Athletes training at the city of champions

Matthew Kisorio is one high flying marathoner who was deceived into believing that he was being administered multi vitamins by an Eldoret based doctor but ended up having consumed performance improvement drugs ergo doping. He was given a two year ban and resumed training for competitions in 2015. He even went ahead to win the Ndakaini Half Marathon held in 2015. There are many others who have fallen victim to such and wayward others who have taken the drugs by injection or ingestion knowingly.

Mathew Kosorio won Ndakaini Half Marathon held in 2015 after a 2 year ban

Avoid falling victim to doping

Running is a very competitive sport, and having so much monetary gain. Some sportsmen device unorthodox ways of warding off competition. There are cases where athlete’s drinks have been laced with banned substances in that when the athlete gets tested for banned substances the results come out positive. Athletes should keep an eye on what they consume. They should not consume food or drink anyhow without being certain of the source.

There are doctors that might lure athletes into doping by enticement of better performance. Athletes should refrain from such and go an extra mile of reporting them to the right authorities but if they fall prey to the whims they do so on their own peril.

Athletes should also ensure that the medicine they take in cases of illness is approved by the anti-doping agencies and that the medicine does not contain any banned substance. Athletes should also look at the contents of energy drinks, power bars or any edible that could contain additives that are banned.

With the completion of the Olympic qualifiers and the more than exceptional performance witnessed on the two-day event. We are looking forward to a dope free Olympics.

#Goteamkenya